Celebrating Thanksgiving
in America
David Barton, 2008
The tradition introduced by European Americans of Thanksgiving as a time to focus on
God and His blessings dates back well over four centuries in America. For example, such
thanksgivings occurred in 1541 at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas with Coronado and 1,500 of
his men; 1 in 1564 at St. Augustine, Florida with French Huguenot (Protestant) colonists;
2
in 1598 at El Paso, Texas with Juan de Oñate and his expedition; 3 in 1607 at Cape
Henry, Virginia with the landing of the Jamestown settlers; 4 in 1619 at Berkeley
Plantation, Virginia; 5 (and many other such celebrations). But it is primarily from the
Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving celebration of 1621 that we derive the current tradition of
Thanksgiving Day.
The Pilgrims set sail for America on September 6, 1620, and for two months braved the
harsh elements of a storm-tossed sea. Upon disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they held a
prayer service and then hastily began building shelters; however, unprepared for such a
harsh New England winter, nearly half of them died before spring. 6 Emerging from that
grueling winter, the Pilgrims were surprised when an Indian named Samoset approached
them and greeted them in their own language, explaining to them that he had learned
English from fishermen and traders. A week later, Samoset returned with a friend named
Squanto, who lived with the Pilgrims and accepted their Christian faith. Squanto taught
the Pilgrims much about how to live in the New World, and he and Samoset helped forge
a long-lasting peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Pilgrim
Governor William Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for
[our] good . . . and never left [us] till he died.” 7
That summer, the Pilgrims, still persevering in prayer and assisted by helpful Indians, 8
reaped a bountiful harvest. 9 As Pilgrim Edward Winslow (later to become the Governor)
affirmed, “God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn”; “by the goodness of
God, we are . . . far from want.” 10 The grateful Pilgrims therefore declared a three-day
feast in December 1621 to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends 11 –
America’s first Thanksgiving Festival. Ninety Wampanoag Indians joined the fifty
Pilgrims for three days of feasting (which included shellfish, lobsters, turkey, corn bread,
berries, deer, and other foods), of play (the young Pilgrim and Wampanoag men engaged
in races, wrestling matches, and athletic events), and of prayer. This celebration and its
accompanying activities were the origin of the holiday that Americans now celebrate
each November.
However, while the Pilgrims enjoyed times of prosperity for which they thanked God,
they also suffered extreme hardships. In fact, in 1623 they experienced an extended and
prolonged drought. Knowing that without a change in the weather there would be no
harvest and the winter would be filled with death and starvation, Governor Bradford
called the Pilgrims to a time of prayer and fasting to seek God’s direct intervention.
Significantly, shortly after that time of prayer – and to the great amazement of the Indian
who witnessed the scene – clouds appeared in the sky and a gentle and steady rain began
to fall. As Governor Bradford explained:
It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in
abundance, as that ye earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith, which did
so apparently revive and quicken ye decayed corn and other fruits as was
wonderful to see, and made ye Indians astonished to behold; and afterwards the
Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather
as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small
comfort and rejoicing. 12
The drought had been broken; the fall therefore produced an abundant harvest; there
was cause for another thanksgiving. The Pilgrim practice of designating an official time
of Thanksgiving spread into neighboring colonies and became an annual tradition. 13 And
just as those neighboring colonies followed the Pilgrims’ example of calling for days of
thanksgiving, so, too, did they adopt their practice of calling for a time of prayer and
fasting. The New England Colonies therefore developed a practice of calling for a day of
prayer and fasting in the spring, and a day of prayer and thanksgiving in the fall.
The Thanksgiving celebrations so common throughout New England did not begin to
spread southward until the American Revolution, when Congress issued eight separate
national Thanksgiving Proclamations. (Congress also issued seven separate
proclamations for times of fasting and prayer, for a total of 15 official prayer
proclamations during the American Revolution. 14)
America’s first national Thanksgiving occurred in 1789 with the commencement of the
federal government. According to the Congressional Record for September 25 of that
year, the first act after the Framers completed the framing of the Bill of Rights was that:
Mr. [Elias] Boudinot said he could not think of letting the session pass without
offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one
voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings He
had poured down upon them. With this view, therefore, he would move the
following resolution:
Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the
President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the
people of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer. . . .
Mr. Roger Sherman justified the practice of thanksgiving on any single event not
only as a laudable one in itself but also as warranted by a number of precedents in
Holy Writ. . . . This example he thought worthy of a Christian imitation on the
present occasion. 15
That congressional resolution was delivered to President George Washington, who
heartily concurred with the request and issued the first federal Thanksgiving
proclamation, declaring in part:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty
God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His
protection and favor. . . . Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday,
the 26th day of November [1789] . . . that we may all unite to render unto Him
our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection. 16
That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church (of which President Washington was
a member) announced that the first Thursday in November would become its regular day
for giving thanks, “unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities.” 17 Following
President Washington’s initial proclamation, national Thanksgiving Proclamations
occurred only sporadically (another by President Washington in 1795, one by John
Adams in 1798 and again in 1799, one by James Madison in 1814 and again in 1815,
etc.); 18 most official Thanksgiving observances occurred at the state level. In fact, by
1815, the various state governments had issued at least 1,400 official prayer
proclamations, almost half for times of thanksgiving and prayer and the other half for
times of fasting and prayer. 19
Much of the credit for the adoption of Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday may
be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, a popular
lady’s books containing poetry, art work, and articles by America’s leading authors. For
two decades, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, 20 contacting
president after president until Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the
last Thursday of that November. The Thanksgiving proclamation issued by Lincoln was
remarkable not only for its strong religious content but also for its timing, for it was
delivered in the midst of the darkest days of the Civil War, with the Union having lost
battle after battle throughout the first three years of that conflict. Yet, despite those dark
circumstances, Lincoln nevertheless called Americans to prayer with an air of positive
optimism and genuine thankfulness, noting that:
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of
fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly
enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have
been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to
penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the everwatchful providence of Almighty God. . . . No human counsel hath devised nor
hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of
the Most High God, Who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath
nevertheless remembered mercy. 21
That remarkable Thanksgiving Proclamation came at a pivotal point in Lincoln’s
spiritual life. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had occurred, resulting in the
loss of some 60,000 American lives. It had been while Lincoln was walking among the
thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he first committed his life to Christ. As he
later explained to a clergyman:
When I left Springfield [Illinois, to assume the Presidency], I asked the people to
pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my
life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of
thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. 22
The dramatic spiritual impact resulting from that experience was not only visible in
Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation (and also his 1864 call for a day of prayer and
fasting) but especially in his 1865 Second Inaugural Address.
Over the seventy-five years following Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation,
presidents faithfully followed Lincoln’s precedent, annually declaring a national
Thanksgiving Day (but the date of the celebrations varied widely from proclamation to
proclamation). In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began celebrating Thanksgiving
on the fourth Thursday of each November, and in 1941, Congress permanently
established that day as the national Thanksgiving holiday. 23
As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, remember to retain the original gratefulness
to God that has always been the spirit of this – the oldest of all American holidays.
(Below are representative examples of the scores of Thanksgiving proclamations penned
by various Founding Fathers.)
[Congress] recommended [a day of] . . . thanksgiving and praise [so] that “the
good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and join . . . their
supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive
[our sins] and . . . to enlarge [His] kingdom which consisteth in righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” 24 Continental Congress, 1777 – written by
SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION SAMUEL ADAMS AND RICHARD HENRY LEE
[I] appoint . . . a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God . . . to [ask] Him
that He would . . . pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He
would . . . spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of
the earth; . . . and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of
religion and virtue. 25 GOVERNOR THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1779
[I] appoint . . . a day of public thanksgiving and praise . . . to render to God the
tribute of praise for His unmerited goodness towards us . . . [by giving to] us . . .
the Holy Scriptures which are able to enlighten and make us wise to eternal
salvation. And [to] present our supplications...that He would forgive our manifold
sins and . . . cause the benign religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be
known, understood, and practiced among all the inhabitants of the earth. 26
GOVERNOR JOHN HANCOCK, 1790
1
Library of Congress, “Thanksgiving Timeline, 1541-2001” (at
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/thanksgiving/time
line/1541.html).
2
Library of Congress, “Thanksgiving Timeline, 1541-2001” (at
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/thanksgiving/time
line/1564.html).
3
Texas Almanac, “The First Thanksgiving?” (at
http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/thanksgiving/).
4
Benson Lossing, Our Country. A Household History of the United States (New York: James A. Bailey,
1895), Vol. 1, pp. 181-182. See also National Park Service, “The Reverend Robert Hunt: The First
Chaplain at Jamestown” (at http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/the-reverend-robert-hunt-the-firstchaplain-at-jamestown.htm).
5
“Berkeley Plantation,” Berkeley Plantation, (at: http://www.berkeleyplantation.com/). (accessed
November 17, 2008).
6
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1856), pp. 74, 78, 80,
91.
7
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1856), p. 95.
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1856), p. 100.
9
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1856), p. 105.
10
Mourt's Relation or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth, Henry Martyn Dexter, editor (Boston: Jim
Kimball Wiggin, 1865; reprint of 1622 original), p. 133. See also William S. Russell, Guide to Plymouth
and Recollections of the Pilgrims (Boston: George Coolidge, 1846), p. 95, quoting from a letter of Pilgrim
Edward Winslow to George Morton of London, written on December 21, 1621.
11
Mourt's Relation or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth, Henry Martyn Dexter, editor (Boston: Jim
Kimball Wiggin, 1865; reprint of 1622 original), p. 133. See also Ashbel Steele, Chief of the Pilgrims: Or
the Life and Time of William Brewster (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co, 1857), pp. 269-270.
12
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 1856), p. 142.
13
DeLoss Love, Jr, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (Boston: Houghton,, Mifflin &
Co, 1895), pp. 87-90.
14
See the Journals of the Continental Congress (1905) for June 12, 1775; March 16, 1776; December 11,
1776; November 1, 1777; March 7, 1778; November 17, 1778; March 20, 1779; October 20, 1779; March
11, 1780; October 18, 1780; March 20, 1781; October 26, 1781; March 19, 1782; October 11, 1782;
October 18, 1783.
15
The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United State (Washington: Gales & Seaton,
1834), Vol. I, pp. 949-950.
16
George Washington, Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor ((Boston: Russell, Odiorne
and Metcalf, 1838), Vol. XII, p. 119, Proclamation for a National Thanksgiving on October 3, 1789.
17
The American Cyclopaedia, A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, George Ripley and Charles
A. Dana, editors (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1876), Vol. XV, p. 684, s.v., “Thanksgiving
Day.”
18
See, for example, H. S. J. Sickel, Thanksgiving: Its Source, Philosophy and History With All National
Proclamations (Philadelphia: International Printing Co, 1940), pp. 154-155, “Thanksgiving Day- 1795” by
George Washington, pp. 156-157, “Thanksgiving Day – 1798” by John Adams, pp. 158-159,
“Thanksgiving Day – 1799” by John Adams, p. 160, “Thanksgiving Day – 1814” by James Madison, p.
161, “Thanksgiving Day – 1815” by James Madison, etc.
19
Deloss Love, in his work The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England, lists some 1,735
proclamations issued between 1620 and 1820, in a non-exclusive list. Of those, 284 were issued by
churches and 1,451 by civil authorities. Of the civil proclamations, 1,028 were issued prior to July 4, 1776,
and 413 from July 4, 1776 to 1820. Of the church issued proclamations, 278 were issued before July 4,
1776, and six afterwards. These, however, are only a portion of what were issued; for example, the author
personally owns hundreds of additional proclamations not listed in Love’s work. While the exact number of
government-issued prayer proclamations is unknown, it is certain that they certainly number in the
thousands.
20
Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography, James Grant Wilson & John Fiske, editors (New
York: D. Appleton & Co, 1888), Vol. III, p. 35.
21
Abraham Lincoln, The Works of Abraham Lincoln, John H. Clifford & Marion M. Miller, editors
(New York: University Society Inc, 1908), Vol. VI, pp. 160-161, Proclamation for Thanksgiving, October
3, 1863. See also, The American Presidency Project, “Abraham Lincoln: Proclamation – Thanksgiving
Day, 1863” (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=69900&st=&st1=).
22
Abraham Lincoln, The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles. Osborn H. Oldroyd, editor (New York:
G.W. Carleton & Co, 1882) p. 366, Reply to an Illinois Clergyman.
23
The National Archives, “Congress Establishes Thanksgiving” (at
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving/); see also Pilgrim Hall Museum, “Presidential
Thanksgiving Proclamations 1940-1949: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman” (at
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1940.htm), Proclamation 2571: Days of Prayer: Thanksgiving Day
and New Year’s Day, November 11, 1942, referring to a “joint resolution of Congress approved December
26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day.”
24
Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907), Vol. IX, p.
855, November 1, 1777.
8
25
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951),
Vol. 3, p. 178, Proclamation Appointing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, November 11, 1779.
26
John Hancock, Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving (Boston, 1790), from an original
broadside in possession of the author.